Arkansas vs Auburn

Arkansas hosted Auburn on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. After two first-quarter touchdowns for the Tigers, it was a scoreless affair for the defending national champions as Arkansas finished the contest with a 38-14 win.

There was a little local flavor on the Auburn sideline inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in the forms of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn (former local high school coach), sophomore running back Michael Dyer (Little Rock Christian) and freshman quarterback Kiehl Frazier (Shiloh Christian). Dyer and Frazier scored on rushing touchdowns -- Frazier's first collegiate touchdown -- in the first quarter.

While lined up in the tailback position, Joe Adams broke free for a 92-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. It was the second longest touchdown run in school history.

Here's a few of my favorites from the night. You can view a full gallery from Michael Woods and myself here.

Portraits

So I decided to post a selection of my favorite portraits over the past year. Most of these were for the paper while a couple were for a magazine.

Best of the "lately:" Aug. 29-Aug. 31

Here's a sampling of some of my favorites from lately. The first three are pieces of wild art that I found and shot for the paper. And the last is for a story on overcrowding at a local high school that never ran unfortunately. So, here, it gets life.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER --08/29/11--
Mary Harms Mulkey (left), 2, of Rogers and Abby Lee, 3, of Bella Vista participate in a ballet and tap class inside Kaleidoscope Dance Academy in downtown Bentonville on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011. The weekly class is led by studio director Laine Harper.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER --08/31/11--
Volunteers Misa (cq) Mauricio (cq) (left) of Bentonville and Rita Pittman of Rogers clean one of the eight buses outside the Benton County Sunshine School in Rogers on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. Through the United Way of Northwest Arkansas, local volunteers were paired with non-profit agencies to complete a variety of projects as part of LIVE UNITED Day.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER --08/31/11--
Jon Cottrell (cq) lifts a stencil after painting one of two parking spaces outside Bentonville High School designating them for police parking on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. Cottell works in the maintenance department for the school's athletic complex.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER --08/31/11--
Students quickly change classes on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011, at Bentonville High School. Bentonville Public Schools held a public forum on Tuesday night to discuss options for overcrowding at the high school.

Football's back

"SC"

Well, my first football game of the season is in the books.

Arkansas took down the University of Springfield, erm, I mean Missouri State University, 51-7. The Razorbacks definitely showed some flashes of a high quality team, especially with two punt returns for touchdowns by Joe Adams (#3) who set a school record for 174 punt return yards. But they'll still need some improvements before entering conference play. Eight penalties for 76 yards will have to be trimmed down before the Hogs see the likes of LSU, Tennessee and others.

Judging from the score alone, it's obvious this was FAR from an exciting game. But it was football and many, including myself, are excited to just have that back.

Here's a few of my picks of my pics from the game. You can view a full online gallery from Michael Woods and myself here.

UA Football Preview Tab

Earlier this month, I shot the University of Arkansas' football media day. Most of the planned work for this shoot was to fill our annual football preview tab and the cover art. The issue, which took a TON of work from the sports department, hit the racks and doorsteps today inserted in everyone's Sunday Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The writers and design team for our sports department deserve all the credit for their work on this annual heartache.

So here are the portraits I shot for the issue along with a few fun shots of players preparing for other photographers/videographers.